RABAT, March 29 (Reuters) – An audit court has found
evidence of graft, corruption and insider trading in Morocco’s
state-owned firms and entities, putting to the test a government
promise to end such practices.

The Supreme Court of Audit’s latest probe revealed that
bourse watchdog CDVM had not properly investigated cases of
insider trading involving five individuals that netted them
gains of close to $30 million between July, 2006 and January
2007.

RABAT, March 27 (Reuters) – Morocco’s central bank is
cutting its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points, it said
on Tuesday, making its first rate move in three years after a
sharp decline in agricultural output and the crisis in the euro
zone hit economic growth.

Central Bank Governor Abdellatif Jouahri predicted the
economy would grow 2 to 3 percent in 2012, far below the
government’s 4.2 percent forecast in the budget, after bad
weather more than halved the country’s cereal harvest and the
economic crisis in Europe hit trade and tourism.

RABAT, March 26 (Reuters) – Maroc Telecom said on
Monday it plans to raise its capital by as much as 22.7 percent,
prompting traders on the Casablanca bourse to speculate that
Morocco’s main telecom player may make a fresh acquisition in
Africa.

The affiliate of French operator Vivendi will ask a
shareholders’ assembly to vote on April 24 for the management’s
proposal to raise its capital by up to 200 million shares, the
company said in a statement to the Casablanca bourse.

RABAT (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of Moroccans staged a pro-Palestinian march in Rabat on Sunday in a show of force organized by an Islamist group seen as the main opposition to Morocco’s monarchy.

A Reuters reporter in the Moroccan capital said at least 40,000 people joined the march called by Al-Adl Wal Ihsan (Justice and Spirituality). A senior police officer put the number at 11,000 while organizers said 100,000 had turned out.

TANGIER, Morocco, Feb 15 (Reuters) – Boarding a ferry
from the Moroccan port of Tangier back to Spain, where they
live, Younes al-Adli and his wife worried that they might no
longer make enough money in Europe to provide for their extended
family.

Without work in Spain since last year, the couple were
forced to leave their 18-month-old son, Amir, behind with his
grandmother in Morocco.

RABAT, Feb 10 (Reuters) – Moroccan miner Imiter
said on Friday ore processing at one of the world’s ten
richest silver mines was running at 60 percent of total capacity
due to protests by local residents which have been underway
since September.

A spokeswoman for the company could not immediately say how
the protests by people living near the Imiter mine had affected
production and deliveries.

RABAT (Reuters) – Morocco’s King Mohammed promised Tuesday to improve conditions for serving and retired military personnel following veterans’ protests and recent cases of soldiers burning themselves to death.

A cabinet meeting chaired by the king adopted a draft law “defining, clarifying and strengthening basic guarantees for the military” and covering soldiers’ legal, material and social rights, a statement carried by the official MAP news agency said.

Tourism receipts rose 4.3 percent in 2011 to 58.8 billion
dirhams while remittances by Moroccan expatriates, most of whom
live in Western Europe, rose 7.3 percent to 58.4 billion
dirhams, data from the foreign exchange regulator showed.